


Dancing on the kitchen tiles

by carameldumpling



Category: Gossip Girl
Genre: Cheating, F/M, Prequel, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-02
Updated: 2011-05-02
Packaged: 2017-10-18 21:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/193645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carameldumpling/pseuds/carameldumpling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘I could just kiss you forever,’ he hears her voice, and through the smoke, he manages to smile. - the fateful summer, re-written.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to LJ - 29 Aug 2008. Based on the books, so Erik is the older one.

Nate sucks the joint, frustrated beyond belief. Blair had promised him that they’d do it during the summer. 

This is summer, isn’t it? 

Now she wants to push it back until she got back from wherever, Nate didn’t listen far enough to catch where. Nate isn’t sure if he can wait that long. He inhales again and thinks about that song he heard outside the window a couple of minutes ago. Or hours, he isn’t sure how long he’s been in the bathroom. 

 _She comes in five colours  
She combs her hair,  
She’s like a rainbow_

Serena. His rainbow. Why didn’t he choose her to be his girlfriend again? After all, when they went shopping she didn’t drag him to Tiffany’s. And she didn’t expect anything from him, just love and kisses. 

 _‘I could just kiss you forever,’_  he hears her voice, and through the smoke, he manages to smile.

  
Serena tries to resist the urge to apply ChapStik for the tenth time, because she’s certain her lips are moist enough. Erik babbles on and on next to her, talking eagerly about how she’d just love Brown if she went there, and how the people there are  _totally awesome_. She smiles and nods, because it is polite to do so, and it would be mean of her to slump in a corner and ignore sweet Erik, but in her mind she could think of someone totally awesome.

His clay boat sat on her lap.

  
Nate has never been this unenthusiastic to go to Maine. He should have, because Maine has hot girls. And Maine also gives him a really good tan, even better than the tan he gets from St. Barts. 

His father, the ever-serious Captain Archibald, unrolls a huge white sheet of paper. Blueprints, Nate realizes. Blueprints of the ship they were going to build.  _The secret and sacred project_ , the Captain calls it. Nate has no idea why it is secret, because he’s told Blair and Serena, and he doesn’t know why it’s sacred either, because it’s just a boat, not some boat used for a ritual or something. But Nate’s too stoned to argue, or maybe he knows better than to argue, so he nods his head at everything his father says.

When his father asks him what they should name the boat, the first name that comes to mind is Serena. But he knows, at the back of his pot-infested mind, that if he names it Serena, Blair will kill them both. And he doesn’t want to name Blair, after what Blair did to him. 

So when he comes up with no ideas, his father proposes Charlotte, after their grandmother. Nate thinks it’s a pretty nice name. He wonders where else had he heard that name… Charlotte…

If he wasn’t too stoned, he’d remember that when they were six he and Serena had taken one of her Cabbage Patch dolls and named it Charlotte, their baby. Blair didn’t like that doll one bit.

  
Serena sits by the pool, staring at the gardener who’s pruning the hedges. He turns suddenly, and she sees emerald eyes. She nearly drops her lemonade. 

She looks away, but she feels his eyes on her. 

Emerald eyes.

She runs into the house, because if she doesn’t, she’d be kissing the gardener senseless, making sure she’d see those emerald eyes while she does it. 

  
Erik comes up to Serena, a glass of vodka in hand. Serena looks up questioningly. 

‘You look tired,’ Erik simply says, but his navy blue eyes say volumes.  _You’re sad. I know, because I’m your brother. And I also know that vodka makes the sadness a little less._

She takes it and gulps in down in one go. It burns her throat slightly, but she feels better. 

Erik takes the glass gently from her hands and pours her another one. 

  
The last time Nate saw Serena, it was at the sidewalk. He was with Blair, and they’d just finished their Tiffany’s shopping. She looked absolutely miserable, and he wanted to go over and hug her, but Blair’s fingernails were digging into his arm. 

He wanted to go over to her and kiss her, but then Blair was his girlfriend. 

He didn’t understand the hurt he saw in her eyes.

He looks up into the Maine sky, and looks at the clouds. There’s a toilet-shaped one over there, and he chuckles, imagining Serena next to him, pointing at it at laughing like it was the funniest thing ever. 

He looks down at the ocean, and it’s a navy blue, the colour of her eyes.

  
They’re at a pub, and it’s so noisy you can’t hear anyone. Serena stares at the drink in front of her, motionless. Erik’s laughter ceases and he bends over to his sister.

‘Hey,’ he says softly. Serena looks up at him with huge sad eyes. 

‘Hey,’ she whispers. 

He doesn’t ask what’s wrong. He just engulfs her in a hug, and Serena’s thankful he doesn’t ask. She doesn’t think she can take it.

  
Who’s calling? Nate looks at his phone. 

Ah. Blair.

He answers, after a moment’s hesitation. ‘Hey,’ he says, taking a chug of water. It’s hot in Maine, and the Captain shows no mercy. 

She breathes sexily into his ear, and he’s getting turned on. Finally, maybe finally, they could get together and –

‘You know, Serena always said that kissing was the most romantic thing. But that’s so boring. I’m definitely ready to go all the way.’ Blair gushes on the phone, before she hangs up.   
Nate ends the call, and blinks.

 _‘I could just kiss you forever.’_

That was Serena. Serena on Valentine’s Day, when they had camped out at her place. He suddenly had a need for her. Her, Serena van der Woodsen, with her blue eyes, her hair, her long tan limbs. Her goofiness, her laughter, her kisses. 

Oh god, how was he so blind?

Serena loves him as much as he loves her. 

  
Serena looks down from her window. 

‘Happy Birthday, Serena!’ Erik calls from below, in his reggae outfit. Serena folds her arms, amused. She didn’t know her brother was now into reggae.

‘Come down here!’ 

She runs out of the house, into her brother’s arms. 

He smells of fresh soap, just like how Nate does. 

  
When she gets his card with the marijuana, she smiles. 

 _So Natie_ , she thinks, staring at his handwriting. 

Does he know that she’s missed him? Or is he too busy doing things with Blair?

  
Nate packs his bags. He’s never been so enthusiastic about leaving Maine. His father says he can go back to Manhattan, because the Charlotte is complete, and he’s never been happier. 

The end of summer is a month away. 

  
The moment Nate stops feeling stoned, he picks up the phone and dials a number.

It’s not Blair’s.

‘Pick up,’ he mutters, pacing.

  
Serena paints her nails multi-colour because she’s bored. Erik’s at work, and her mom is swimming. Her dad is… somewhere, but she loves him, anyway.

The gardener is back, trimming the hedges. She makes it her duty to not look at him, because she doesn’t want to look at his eyes.

The phone rings. She fumbles to pick it up.

‘Hello?’ 

‘Serena?’ 

She sits up, nails forgotten. Could it be?

‘Natie?’ she nearly cries in happiness. ‘Natie, where are you?’

He sounds hoarse and… needy. ‘I’m back at home.’ 

  
He takes a deep breath, and blurts it out.

‘I need to see you.’

He really does. It’s not a want anymore. Serena is a  _need_.

  
She’s hesitant, because the first thing that comes to her mind is a pissed off Blair. Then she thinks about how her happiness should come first, screw Blair. 

It’s then that she looks at the gardener, and sees his emerald eyes. Natie’s eyes. 

 _Her_  Natie.

She knows the train schedule.

‘Meet me at Grand Central at four thirty-five,’ she tells him, before practically flying into the house to change.

  
Nate stands at the platform, looking around. She didn’t say where she was going to meet him, and he feels a little stupid. But it could be because of the lack of pot in his system. He spent three days not smoking anything, because when he saw Serena, he wanted to be  _sober_ , if that was the correct term.

Then she comes out of the train in her blue dress and pink flip flops, and all he can think of is that it look like a scene out of a fifties’ movie, when the woman comes out of the train and there’s a halo of light around her because of the light shining behind. 

Only that it’s Serena, so the image is about twenty times better.

She sees him and runs to him. He walks up to her, arms outstretched.

She jumps into his arms, and kisses him long and sweet. 

When they break for air, she smiles, her blond hair a curtain, covering both of their faces. ‘I’ve been wanting to do that for ages,’ she giggles.

Nate smiles back. ‘Me too,’ 

He puts her down and his arm encircles her waist as they walk together. She rests her head on his shoulder. Yes, they fit perfectly. This is right.

He leans over to whisper in her ear, ‘and we’ve got all summer to do it. Just you and me.’ 

  
Serena looks up at Nate and sees only love in his emerald eyes. 

It was definitely going to be a great summer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lovesickness is a sickness she doesn’t mind having.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on LJ - 30 Aug 2008. Accompanying soundtrack can be found [here](http://tipah.livejournal.com/151476.html)

Nate’s lips are swollen, and it’s not because they’re bee-stung or he’s been fighting. He’s been doing something much more positive – kissing Serena senseless. 

She opens her eyes slowly, and Nate cups her face in his golden hands. He’s wasted enough time as it is and he’s going to make up for the time lost. He smiles at her, emerald eyes dazzling. ‘Hey,’ he whispers, as if he’s afraid that if he speaks any louder she’ll run away.

She giggles and leans into his touch. ‘Hey,’ she whispers back, staring back at him.

And that’s all the conversation they have for the next two hours. After all, why talk when you can do so many more things?

  
Serena moans open-mouthed as Nate kisses her clavicle, gently sucking it and driving her crazy. She grabs a handful of golden, soap-smelling hair and tries to balance herself against the doorway. If Nate doesn’t stop kissing her, she might go mad with love. 

Not that she isn’t, but you know. 

He’s backing her into something, she isn’t quite sure. A wall? The bathroom? The window? Nate might have a flashing streak, and somehow that turns her on. Then the back of her knees hit something soft, and she gasps. 

His bed.

It was the bed where they had played on as children, bouncing on it, reading stories to each other and telling stories to each other. The bed where she’d snuggle up to him with Blair when they stayed over. 

Oh crap.  _Blair._

By now, Nate’s already on top of her, slowly pushing up the hem of her dress, bunching it at her waist. With a grunt of frustration, she pushes Nate’s chest away from her. Their lips lose contact. 

Nate looks confused, his emerald eyes searching for something that might be seen on her face. She sees a flicker of hurt, and before she can do anything to make him feel better, he asks, ‘What’s wrong?’ 

She looks at him, so beautiful and golden, on top of her. Her heart breaks. ‘Blair,’ she whispers shakily, grabbing onto his arms, afraid he’ll go away, that he’ll not want her after this. But Blair is her friend, and Nate is still Blair’s boyfriend, right? So he’s cheating, and this is something like an affair. ‘Blair will-’

‘Know about us when she comes back from wherever she is.’ Nate finishes her sentence affirmatively. There’s something in his eyes that assures her that this is the correct thing to do. They’re not doing anything wrong. 

  
Nate smiles as Serena smiles from underneath him. There’s a radiance emitting from her now, and Nate feels ecstatic that she’s feeling all happy because of him. 

The moment of strong teenage lust is gone, it’s replaced with something much sweeter and Nate interestingly doesn’t mind. Gently, he manouvers Serena so that he can lie next to her, and hugs her protectively. She snuggles into his arms and drapes a long leg around his tan one. 

They talk and kiss until they fall asleep. Nate can’t think of doing anything else but this for the rest of summer.

  
When Serena wakes up, Nate is still snoring lightly next to her. She looks up at him adoringly, trying to memorize every inch of his handsome face. She looks down at his chest, and slowly caresses his stomach. 

When she looks up again, Nate is awake, his emerald eyes looking straight at her. ‘Hey,’ he whispers, the corners of his mouth curling upward. He brushes a strand of hair away from her face. 

‘Hey,’ she whispers back, and then she jolts up. 

  
Nate wonders what he did in the past three seconds that got Serena in a frenzy, but then he hears her say, ‘I’m brushing my teeth. Morning breath.’ 

She pads to the bathroom, and he laughs as he sits up. ‘Serena,’ he explains to her as he stretches. ‘You never have bad morning breath.’ 

In fact, she never has bad breath. He can’t think of any time she had bad breath. Not even the time she ate a whole onion because Chuck dared her to. 

She shakes her head, unbelieving. Her golden hair moves like a shampoo advertisement behind her, and he’s besotted. 

  
Serena only manages to move Nate’s toothbrush four times against her teeth before the owner of the toothbrush barges into the bathroom to kiss her. 

The toothbrush remains forgotten in the sink. 

  
They run all over Manhattan, as if they own it. 

They amuse people at Central Park as Serena skips happily, pointing at the sky and identifying cloud shapes and Nate half-jogs after her, hand in hand. 

They kiss on the Met steps, because it’s just romantic.

They go to Barney’s and Serena tries on anything Nate thinks is nice. Eventually she buys half of it. 

They feed each other ice-cream at the parlor, playing footsie underneath the table. 

They venture into a supermarket and buy whatever they feel like. Nate pays, because that’s what he’s going to do when they get married and they go shopping at the supermarket. ‘I need practice,’ he tells Serena seriously. She nods in approval.

  
When they reach Nate’s place, they’re giggling wildly. Nate puts down the bags in the kitchen, leaving his maid to pack the things for him. He chuckles as he sees her shocked face.

He leaves the kitchen and sees Serena spread eagle on the couch, the Barney’s bags next to her. He sits near her feet, taking off her flip flops. 

‘I’m tired, Natie,’ she whines playfully, looking at him lovingly. 

He massages her feet, and she moans. He shivers at the sound, ignoring the obvious that is happening in his pants, and continues to massage her feet. 

  
Nate’s massage is turning her on. Serena won’t admit it, but it’s true. She shifts slightly, her calf brushing his thigh, and his breath hitches. He looks at her, his emerald eyes intense. 

‘Is this what you’d do after a trip to the supermarket when we get married, Natie?’ she asks him softly. 

He lets go of her feet and his fingers trail slowly upward. ‘Yeah.’

When they reach her thighs, he stops. He moves towards her, until his face is hovering above hers. 

‘Yeah.’ 

  
They manage to get into the club with a bit of flirting, thanks to Serena. She’s wearing a pair of black heels and a gold dress she’d snatched from her closet when she went home earlier to get fresh clothes. 

Nate has never been into a club alone, but he’s certain they’ll have fun.

After a couple of drinks – this time Nate flirts, because the bartender is female – he feels a little woozy. Serena stands up from the chair next to him, and he’s alert. He may be a little drunk, but he knows the dangers of a club, especially with such a beautiful girl like Serena. 

She holds out her hand invitingly. She shouts something, but Nate can’t quite hear it above the loud, thumping   
music. 

She leans over, a hand over his shoulder. ‘Dance with me,’ she whispers sexily in his ear.

He’d be a fool to say no.

  
Nate can dance. Serena knew he could do ballroom, thanks to the stupid dance classes they had back when they were ten, but he seems just as ease on the dance floor in a club. 

She shimmies closer towards him, and throws her arms in the air. He grabs her hips and they grind against each other. Her hands find the back of his neck and his shoulder, and then she’s kissing him as if he’s her lifeline. No need for words, Serena just need Nate’s kiss to know that he loves her as much as she loves him. 

The club is alive around them, but Serena only sees the golden boy in front of her. 

  
They can barely keep their hands off each other in the cab. Nate wonders since when has he been so horny and needy. 

Her hand brushes his and he literally jumps off the seat. He hears her giggle, but he determinedly looks out of the window, admiring the sights as much as he can. He knows that if he looks at her, he’s a goner. 

He can think of a whole lot more romantic places than the back of a cab to make love with Serena. 

  
By the time they reach the door of Nate’s house, Serena has jumped on Nate and she’s kissing his face very fiercely. 

She feels Nate holding onto her hips, and she tightens her legs around his waist. Realising that they wouldn’t be able to enter the house if they continue because Nate has no hands to open the door, she reaches for the door, hands fumbling for the doorknob.

 _Bingo._  The door is open, and Nate stumbles into the house. They break for air, and she daintily lets herself stand. She looks at Nate, who looks as if he has run a mile for lacrosse practice. 

‘Do you want to?’ he asks. 

She blinks. They both know he doesn’t need to ask, but Nate is polite. ‘Yes,’ she tells him, and he picks her up and carries her up the stairs. 

She feels like a princess, and finally her Prince Charming has come. 

  
Nate looks at her the whole time he walks up the stairs and into his room. She’s so beautiful, with her hair, her eyes… it’s just her. By the time he’s laid her on the bed, Nate doesn’t know why he’s feeling nervous. It’s Serena, his friend since… he can’t even remember, that’s how long he’s known her. 

She looks at him expectantly, and he takes off her shoes. He’s having trouble with the buckle, and she giggles, sitting up. 

‘Here, let me do it,’ she laughs, easily removing her shoes with a flick of her fingers. She looks at him and giggles, and she’s never looked so beautiful. Her giggles slowly become laughter, and then he’s laughing with her, because suddenly it’s funny. 

She pulls him down with her and kisses him, and they giggle against each other’s mouths. Nate takes off his shirt, helps her with her dress, and he’s about the try tackling her bra when she starts crawling downward, and he feels a huge rush of blood going to his nether regions. 

  
Serena crawls down, giggling. How could Nate forget his socks? How weird would it be if they… do it, and he’s wearing his socks? The thought of it makes her giggle harder, because it’s quite hilarious. She pulls his socks off, and slides back upwards. Her knee bumps into something hard –  _oh_. 

She looks at Nate, and he’s blushing. She bites her lip. ‘Sorry,’ she apologizes.

He shakes his head, looking down. ‘It’s okay.’ 

Then he looks up again, and his emerald eyes tell it all. Serena kisses him, arching up to him, eager fingers pulling down his boxers. 

Nate helps her, shifting his legs so that the offending piece of clothing can go away – and probably never come back, if Serena had her way. His fingers hook onto the band of her underwear and with a little wriggling, those are discarded too.

  
Nate knows he’s fully naked, and she nearly is, but there is that one thing that still confuses him.

Her bra.

He never liked the hooks of that thing, and right now he was going to have to remove it. 

Taking in a deep breath, he reaches underneath her and fumbles. The success rate is exactly the same as that of her shoe buckles. 

Serena reaches behind her, sensing his frustration. 

It’s gone before he can even thank her. Her fingers, he decides, are fantastic. Just like every other part that is her. 

They know the concept, but he’s afraid he’ll hurt her. She notices his hesitation and strokes his face. ‘Hey,’ she smiles. ‘It’ll be fine.’ 

Then he remembers the necessity. 

‘Wait,’ he runs to the toilet to grab a pack of condoms. He takes out one and tosses the rest on the bedside table, in case they need more. Ripping the packaging with his teeth, he takes it out.

Serena stares at it, a look of confusion on her face. Nate is pretty sure that she’s wondering how that is going to fit, but he’s gotten enough tips thanks to his lacrosse seniors who discuss about their sexual escapades after practice.

  
It’s on in record time, and Serena is impressed. Then Nate’s over her again, hair in his emerald eyes. She pushes the hair away, and he kisses her again. 

Then he’s in, and she giggles again. It feels… very Nate, and she laughs at the absurdity of it all. She’s so happy she can fly. 

Nate’s laughing with her, but when she winces he kisses her and kisses the pain away. Serena has never felt so loved in her entire life, not even when Erik dug through the trash to find one of her small plush toys that the maid had accidentally thrown away. 

It’s Nate she’s doing this with, and she’s so sure that this is right. 

Then he groans, and it stops being funny. It become something very different, as they scramble against each other, pressing against each other and kiss each other with a need Serena never knew they had. 

Then she feels him, and she gasps. 

  
Nate sees stars behind his eyelids. ‘Serena,’ he manages to say. He hears her gasp, followed by a long-drawn moan, and manages to somehow smile.  _He_ made Serena do that. 

When he’s lying next to her, their legs entwined, she asks him, ‘Can we do that again some other time?’ 

He smiles sleepily and says, ‘Sure.’

Of course he wants to.

He snuggles into her and she laughs. ‘I love you.’ He says loudly, as if wanting everyone to know.

‘I love you.’ She says, just as loud. 

  
He wakes up in the middle of the night and looks at her, sleeping soundly next to him. With her hair fanned around her, she looks like an angel. 

Nate doesn’t want this moment to end. 

  
The next morning, he groans as he feels sunlight hitting his face. He stretches, then freezes as he remembers that Serena is next to him. Too late, she’s already shifting slightly, her long eyelashes fluttering. 

She looks at him sleepily. ‘Morning,’ she smiles and begins drawing patterns on his hip as he greets her good morning. 

It takes five minutes to get Nate all hot and bothered and he grabs another condom from the bedside table as he pulls Serena towards him and kisses her.

  
On the fifth night after their first time, Nate lies under Serena and caresses her sides and she moans. He’s certain he’s the luckiest person in the world, probably the entire universe. 

Then a part of his mind thinks about his seniors in the locker room. 

One of them had called his girlfriend ‘A good fuck’. 

Serena wasn’t a good fuck. She was more than that. She was his best friend, his lover, about everything he wanted. 

Nate decided, as Serena moved on top of him, this thing that he and Serena have is making love. This isn’t a fuck. Because Serena is too precious and too wonderful to fuck. 

Serena’s breathing slowly goes back to normal and he kneads her back gently. ‘I love you,’ he says.

She looks up to him, her big eyes pooling with emotion. ‘I love you.’ She tells him firmly.

He believes it.

  
Serena sits on the kitchen counter, taking the small pint of Ben and Jerry’s Nate offers her. 

Strawberry Cheesecake. Trust Nate to know what she feels like eating.

He leans against the island, devouring his own pint. He smells like soap, she can smell him from her. 

‘I love you,’ she tells him. 

He looks up from his Turtle Soup, grinning. ‘I love you.’ 

She’s lovesick, and she likes it. It’s a good feeling, she thinks. Lovesickness is a sickness she doesn’t mind having.

A song comes out of nowhere, probably from next door. It’s one of The Beatles’ hits, and she bops her head to it. Erik listens to The Beatles all the time, and she’s memorized almost every song they have. 

Nate puts down his pint and walks towards her, extending a hand. ‘Dance with me,’ he offers. 

Serena giggles and puts her own pint down and takes his hand, hopping off the counter. He pulls her, holding her waist and they start dancing, shuffling their feet against the tiles. 

Occasionally Nate spins her, and she laughs. She’s delirious with happiness. She twirls back to him, and captures him in a kiss. 

  
‘Hello? Nate?’ 

Serena opens her eyes slowly, wondering who was that person calling… 

‘Nate? Nate, open up!’

She’s wide awake now and sits upright. 

 _Blair._

She looks at Nate, panicked. Her beautiful boy is still in dreamland, happily snoozing. She shakes him. ‘Nate!’ she cries urgently.

He blinks, wrinkling his nose. He’s so adorable, and Serena’s heart breaks. ‘Nate, it’s Blair.’

He jolts upwards next to her, emerald eyes wide. ‘Oh  _crap_.’ 

They scramble out of bed, Nate grabs his clothes on the floor and starts putting them on. Serena makes the bed as best as she can, and takes the clothes Nate passes her. 

‘Are we going to tell her?’ Nate asks. She stops in mid motion, looks at him and nods. 

‘Yeah, yeah we are.’

When they’re both ready, he opens the door for Blair. 

  
When Blair kisses Nate and hugs him and goes on and on about how much her summer sucked, Serena realizes that she and Nate are not meant to be. 

Nate will always be with Blair, and Nate was only hers for that month. 

‘Why are you here?’ Blair asks. Nate looks at her from behind her best friend, nodding his head encouragingly.

‘I…I…’ Serena can’t say it. Blair looks at her expectantly.

‘I was on the way to Barney’s and I came by to say hi,’ she finishes lamely. 

  
Blair hugs her and wishes her good luck with her shoe shopping, and she smiles, ignoring the tears threatening to fall and the confused look on Nate’s face. 

 _Her beautiful Nate._

She’s never felt like such a fake in her entire life.

She lifts up a hand. ‘Au revoir,’ she whispers and quickly turns away before Blair realizes that she’s going to cry. 

  
Nate sits in his bathroom, fumbling for a light. It’s been a full month since he was on pot, but with Serena gone, there is really no need to restrain himself. 

He was sure Blair was sitting outside on his bed, confused about his lack of wanting. He’d resisted her the day Serena walked out of his house, and he’d resisted her yet again today. Making love with anyone else was like an insult to Serena. 

Even kissing Blair felt different, after a month of Serena’s intoxicating kisses. 

Blair was not his one true love. It was Serena. 

Her bag of home clothes and the bags of clothes they’d bought from Barney’s lay in a corner of his cupboard. He doesn’t have the heart to send them back to her house, because if he does, he doesn’t have anything that connects him to her. Nothing he can touch and see, at least. 

His phone vibrates in his pocket. 

A picture message from Serena. Her multi coloured toenails. He manages a chuckle, remembering the time he kissed every single toe, claiming that every colour was beautiful, but not as beautiful as her. She had giggled so hard, calling him corny, before pulling him up, and then he was lost in her again. 

She was off to boarding school, and Nate was stuck here, realizing that she was more addictive than pot and wishing he had stopped her when she was about to leave, and just tell Blair that they were in love and Blair would have to find another boyfriend.

He inhales and the feeling makes him giddy. He smiles lazily. He hears her.

‘ _I love you,_ ’ she whispers, like how she did when they were dancing in the kitchen.

‘I love you,’ he whispers, joint in hand.


End file.
